Investigate Pornhub for not complying with age verification

A click on a yellow box that says “I am 18 years of age or older.” That is all the age verification that Pornhub makes, one of the largest pornographic content websites in the world. And indeed, it is not enough, at least for the European Commission. And it is not in Pornhub, Stripchat, Xnxx and Xvideos, websites all of them that, from now on, They are being investigated by the European Commission for “suspicions of gaps of the digital service acts”.

Context. One of the objectives of the European Act Digital Act, AKA DSA, is to protect minors from certain types of network content. The pornographic, among them and in particular. Since December 2023, Pornhub, Stripchat and Xvideos are considered Vlops (Vary Large Online Platforms), that is, platforms that have an average of 45 million monthly users and, therefore, have additional obligations.

What obligations? In order to concern this text, Vlops must offer greater protection to minors. According to the European Commission, “Vlop must design their services, including their interfaces, recommendation systems and terms and conditions, to address and prevent risks for the well -being of minors.” They must also offer “palliative measures to protect the rights of the child and prevent minors from accessing online pornographic content, even with age verification tools.”

In other words, which must offer mechanisms to ensure that minors do not access adult content. Among those mechanisms is, for example, age verification. It is a fairly complex issue, which has not been exempt from criticism and that He has been on the table for more years.

What happened. That the European Commission has taken the magnifying glass to take a look at what Pornhub, Stripchat, Xnxx and Xvideos are doing to prevent minors from seeing porn. As reflected in the commission in the releaseinvestigations focus on “the risks for the protection of minors, including those related to the absence of effective age verification measures.”

The preliminary research carried out by the European agency suggests these platforms have not implemented “appropriate and provided measures to guarantee a high level of privacy, safety and protection of minors” or risk mitigation measures, “in particular through adequate tools for verification of age,” says the Commission.

What could happen? That the European Commission opens the investigation does not mean that these companies are guilty. If it is, something that will be resolved later, they would face a sanction of up to 6% of their global annual turnover. In the case of Pornhub, perhaps the best known, the website is owned by Aylo (previously Mindgeek) and its estimated income are around 500 million dollars annually. The potential fine would therefore be about 30 million dollars.

And what systems are there? We have visited the four websites mentioned above and then we show the mechanisms for protection of minors: a screen where we accept that we are (or not) minors. There is no verification. Interestingly, stripcams links a kind of guide for parents to teach to configure parental control via Google SafeSearch or in iOS/Android. However, the DSA establishes that it is the websites that must offer the prevention mechanisms, not leave the ball on the parents’ roof.

In any case, and as far as Stripchat concerns specifically, the commission has announced that it has lost its status of Vlop and will cease to be considered as such in four months. However, general obligations will continue to apply. In that sense, the Commission has commented that there are many pornographic platforms that are not so large and in which, therefore, national laws are applied. Thus, a working group has been established with the objective of better coordinating the actions between the different countries.

Doors to the field. Throughout history there has been countless attempts To restrict access to the pornographic content, but the reality is that blocking access to content available on the Internet without going through an exhaustive age verification is … complex. Not because blocking a website is impossible, which is not at all, but because pornographic content can be found on any platform.

Porn websites are the best known distribution platforms, but this type of content can be found on social networks, platforms such as Reddit, in Telegram channels or in WhatsApp groups. Limiting access to websites is a step, but it will not eliminate the root problem: accessing online porn is extremely simple.

Pajorto. The Government of Spain announced last year Beta digital portfolio creationbetter known as “pajorto” although its implementation could be expanded until November 2026 (which is the maximum date to comply with the European regulations eidas2which forces member states to have digital identity systems), it was supposed to be ready by the end of this year. Interestingly, Cumlauder, a well -known Spanish website, He advanced to the “parsport” with a system based on or verification of DNI or through a selfie.

And speaking of Spain … According to the then Minister of Digital Transformation, José Luis Escrivá, Beta Aka Digital Portfolio the “Pajorte” was being a “study in Europe and the same within a year all of Europe is applying it”. In that sense, the European Commission has said that it is in “in close collaboration with the Member States, it is developing an application of verification of the white marked age, aimed at covering the void until the EU digital purse is available at the end of 2026”

Well According to EFE Agencythat quotes sources from the aforementioned Ministry, the European Commission I would have chosen Spain for the pilot project of said verification tool. The idea would be to offer the national system as a base and that the rest of the countries can adapt it to their own contexts. After all, the Spanish verification system It would only work on Spanish websites which are precisely the ones that the Spaniards least consume.

Cover image | Franco Alva

In Xataka | The Japanese are ceasing to consume paper pornography. And that has had a direct effect on its streets